The Laws of Thorn Valley"I accept you into my pack," said The Guardian.
"But here, you are on my lands,
and you will follow my rules."

If you are a victim or a witness in any of these situations, please
report it to an available Administration member. Don't be shy, and don't
be afraid. We are here to help you and we have the power to take action,
as well as answer any questions you have. The admins are the "police" for
this chat server. Do not worry if you mistakenly report something. It is
better to be safe than sorry.

To get help for anything at anytime, click the "Report" button, and
type in a short message about your problem to any Admin that is on the
list. Keep scrolling text history logs (the saved sections of the scroll
where the event happened), record the time, date, and the room location.
If there are no Admins online, please fill out a Problem Ticket
(accessible from the Map interface) and it will be dealt with in a timely
manner.

"But I didn't know!" is not an acceptable excuse on Thorn. As
soon as you have registered, you have agreed to be subject to these rules
as well as our Terms of Service. Before
you participate in this site, you must read them all the way through. Also
bear in mind that you are responsible for whatever happens on your
account so keep your password a secret. If someone uses your
account and gets banned, this ban will count towards you in the future -
no exceptions. This includes allowing others to use your email account(s) to gain access to Thorn Valley. Bans can be as short as 12 hours or as long as forever
depending on your behavior and counting strikes. We typically go by the
3-strikes rule, but some special people manage to earn permanent bans on
their first or second try.

Chat Rating is PG-13:
Our chat is based in the United States, and so we follow our particular
brand of PG-13 rules. We are not aiming for Disney - think more like
The Simpson's. We do NOT go by: "Well if they don't like it, the
minority can leave!" No conversations over PG-13 in the public rooms no
matter how old anyone is or if they're all okay with it or not. All
R-rated conversations belong in private rooms, period. Your profile and
username are also subject to this rule, because they are visible to
anyone at anytime. There is a bit more clarification on what PG-13
means (swearing, drugs, etc.) later in this rules page.

The soliciting of funds, favors or items (artwork, poses etc.) is not
allowed. Begging in the public rooms and/or continuous and repeated
solicitation is a type of harassment and could get you kicked from the
chat.

This can be movement and/or text. Clicking all over the screen may slow
down some people's connections. Typing nonstop is also known as
"flooding" and it fills up the scroll bar, which is highly annoying to
others. There is no specific limit about how much you can use capitals,
but be aware that in online-lingo, it is considered "yelling", and if you
do it constantly, it will constitute spam.

We have absolutely zero tolerance for death threats. Talking about
killing, how to kill, threatening someone with murder, or anything of
that sort is not allowed. This rule still applies to the RP
(role-play) rooms. We also ask that you not talk about causing
self-harm on the chat: it can really affect other people emotionally,
often due to personal experiences in their lives, and though it may
seem callous, we need to watch out for everyone. These are the minimum ban lengths you will incur for the following death threat scenarios:3 days to a Week for Roleplay based death Threats in a Roleplay or Private room 1 Month for Roleplay based death threats outside of a Roleplay or Private room.A permanent ban will be placed if the death threat is not felt to be of a Roleplay like nature.

We have absolutely zero tolerance for any kind of threat of sending
viruses or hacking. Don't talk about hacking, share tricks or links, or
have anything to do with it. Threats directly against the site are taken
extremely seriously. Special consequence for Virus & Hacker Threats:
Instant permanent ban.

Thorn Valley makes every effort to keep its chat environment enjoyable and
safe for all users that visit. Thorn Valley has a lot of younger members, and
as such, WE WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY type of illegal enticement of minors AT
ALL.

(1) If you proposition a minor to participate in any illegal
activity, you will be permanently banned from all Chatlands sites, not
just this one. Instances of propositioning minors will be reported to
the appropriate Internet Service Provider (ISP) and/or legal
authority.

(2) As a reminder: by your act of participating in Thorn Valley.com, you
have already agreed to abide by our rules and you have already agreed
to our terms of use. Any evidence of
unlawful acts taking place on Thorn Valley will be turned over to the
appropriate ISP as well as possible law enforcement.

(3) If we have a reasonable suspicion that any involvement with
a minor is unethical in our sole judgment, WE WILL BAN YOU, without
warning, even if this situation occurs in a "role play" or
"pretend" atmosphere.

Please Remember: The Thorn Valley administration cannot be everywhere at
once, so it is up to YOU, as a user, to report any suspicious activity
to the Thorn Valley administration team quickly. We will follow up all
allegations as soon as we can, and we will take necessary and
appropriate action as required.

Important note: If an incident happens outside of Thorn Valley, on systems
over which Thorn Valley admins, and/or wunderwood LLC, have no control
(for example: if the users are communicating via instant messengers
such as MSN, AIM, YIM, or perhaps via an email messages on
hotmail.com, gmail.com, etc), we aren't able to help. If you are a
child and you have a problem, WE STRONGLY ADVISE that that you notify
your parents or other responsible adult and get their help. They should
contact those responsible for the service (such as AOL for AIM
messenges, Microsoft for hotmail.com type emails, Google for gmail.com
type emails, etc). Be sure to save all information and any history of
the problem, as this will help the authorities as they work to solve
this problem.

As always, WE STRONGLY ADVISE everyone: do not give out personal
contact information such as phone numbers, street address, real life
names or the name of your school, any information that helps
someone else you met online locate you in real life. No exceptions.

Everyone deserves respect, of course, but these guys pitch in a little
more than your average user. They accept the job knowing that they may
make mistakes, that they may face constructive criticism, and that they
take on these extra responsibilities without pay. You also accept the
responsibilities as a member, knowing that the Administration is not
perfect. Do not tell an Admin that "they suck", or how bad they are at
their job. Do not beg for your poses to be accepted, or yell at an
Administrator for banning you or someone you know. Do not constantly ask
how to become an Admin or ask to be made an Admin. Do not harass them
openly in any way. If you have a problem with how a Thorn Valley Admin has
handled a situation, or with some other aspect of their behavior, please
fill out a Problem Ticket, or get in contact with a Alpha.

If you go on any Chatlands site (Cats Paw Island, Wolfhome, Sirisoa, Velkacis, etc.) for the purpose of harassing,
disrupting, disturbing the peace, or trolling, the punishment is a
minimum of a one week ban from ALL Chatlands� sites,
not just the one where the incident took place. Any attempt to deliberately
cause strife or to disrupt others on any Chatlands� site is
treated as an attack against all Chatlands� sites.

Falsely reporting another user is completely unacceptable. If you file
a report against a user, and we determine that it is not true, you will
receive a warning, or if serious enough, a temporary ban. If you do this
multiple times, you will receive a temporary ban from the chat as a result.

If you are currently banned from the chat site, and you try to access
the chat on another account, this is called ban hopping. Doing so will
cause that account to be banned as well. Every time you do this, your
ban time will increase. This can eventually lead to a permanent ban if
you do it too many times.

You are responsible for everything that happens on your account,
whether or not you did it. If someone accesses your account and they get
a warning or a ban, it will count against you as though you
did it. If a banned user accesses your account and gets it banned as
well, it will stay banned at the same length of time as their account,
even if it is a permanent ban. If this should happen, you may
submit a problem ticket to inform us that this is the case, and we will
keep it in mind for future reference, so we don't base any possible
future bans you may receive off of the other users issues. Keep in mind
that if you try to access the chat on another account, it will still be
considered ban hopping, and will be enforced as per the rules above.

Using poses like "Attack" and "Growl" for instance to harass other users,
meaning disturbing them or playing with them against their will, is not
allowed. Poses can be used for fun in any rooms, public or RP, and as much
as you like, but they are not there to deliberately disturb other users. Remember to respect the space of others.

In general, you can use a couple of the lighter words a few times. Be
extremely sparing with your harsh swears. Twice is too many. Do not swear
AT people. Excessive swearing can get you kicked from a room and/or
banned.

Chatting about legal substances is allowed (ex: forms of alcohol,
cigarettes). Talk of illegal or prescription drugs for informational
purposes is also allowed (ex: This illegal drug has many side effects.)
Any talk of illegal or prescription drugs in an un-tasteful manner is not
allowed. (ex: Oh man. That -insert drug here- was so good. I got so
wasted last night.)

Sexual slang is not to be heard at all in a sexual context, and minimally
in general. Do not be graphic. "Cybering" or "yiffing" (role-playing
sexual acts) is to be kept to a whisper or private rooms. Mimicking
sexual positions with your poses is also severely frowned upon, and is
not allowed in public rooms.

In your room, be it temporary or permanent, you are your own Alpha, and
you can pick your own rating and you can kick out whoever you want for
whatever reason. In someone else's room, you are subject to their laws.
If you don't like someone's rules in their room, just go somewhere else.
If they are violating one of the special consequence rules, such as
a death threat, a hack threat, or propositioning a minor, you should
report the violation to an Administrator immediately.

We are not going to discriminate against you for RP'ing and jump on you
at the mention of "mates", but do not assume everyone wants to RP with
you. Asking people repeatedly "Will you be my mate?" constitutes
harassment; Asking someone multiple times to "be your mate"/"be in
your pack", asking random users these types of things, or entering a
room and asking if anyone wants to "be your mate"/"join your pack"
etc, is not allowed. Having said that, if you are
talking quietly with "your mate" about "your pack / pups
/ whatever" that is fine, as long as you do not disturb other users in
this public room that are not interested in role play. Please
note: We have a few rooms that are specifically set up
for hopeful RP'ers to meet and interact with others sharing a common
interest in role play. You will also discover several private rooms in
the islands or mysts that are set up for (and interested in) role
play. Outside of those types of rooms, do not bother other
people and they shouldn't bother you either. Please refrain
from full RPing in all other public rooms and remember, again, that
Thorn Valley does not consider itself to be a role play site aside from
those specific RP rooms designated for role play. Thank you for your
understanding and cooperation.

Example of Full RP'ing:

"She came home after a long hunt, tired and weary, happy to see the rest
of her pack."
"He rushed over and nuzzled her, happy she was back."

Please see the Art FAQ for further explanation. Art Theft is taken very
seriously on Thorn Valley. This includes using a pose on this chat when the
artist has made it public they do not wish their work to be used here,
modifying poses that the artist has asked not to be messed with,
uploading work that is not your own without the artist's permission, and
more. If you ever have a question regarding the rights of a pose, please
contact a member of the Art Staff. Special consequence for Art Theft:

3 day ban for First Offense
2 week ban for Second Offense
Permanent ban for Third Offense

Multiple accounts in the same room controlled by the same person are
not allowed. You can pay for as many as you want and different family
members may have their own account but if we learn you are logging into
the same room with multiple accounts all of the accounts will be banned.

Generally, "Disturbing the Peace" might mean many things, but on Thorn Valley
it means behaving in ways that are deliberately upsetting or unsettling
to people within the community, deliberately causing emotional grief, or
trauma. Now, this may not be a crime, but it is taken very seriously here.
An example of "disturbing the peace" would be faked reports of deaths,
suicides, car accidents, abductions, etc. So, don't go around telling
deliberate lies in order to cause commotion. Not only is it rude, it may
also get you banned.

As a service to our users, the Thorn Valley chat software automatically
converts web addresses that are typed in as "speech" into clickable
links. These web links open up a new browser window and display the
content found at that web address. These links are typically for sites
that are external to this website and are thus not under the control of
wunderwood LLC. Please note that wunderwood LLC is not responsible for
any content displayed when a link takes you to an external website.

Any user who enters a link to a page with pornographic
images, outwardly racist content, a "shock site", extreme violence, or a site designed to affect computer performance in a negative way, may be permanently banned without warning. Thorn Valley has a very small "black list" of websites, should any website on this list be posted in a public or private room an immediate system placed permanent ban will be placed on your account.

Additionally, any user posting a link with excessive gore, sexually
explicit content, or any otherwise offensive or inappropriate content content, in a public room or in their sniff, may be banned. These bans usually begin at a 2 week length but can be higher if the content of the link is extreme enough. If you have any doubts about a
particular link, DO NOT POST IT ON Thorn Valley.

We reserve the right to judge instances where inappropriate content is linked in public or private rooms on a case-by-case basis.

Feedback is always welcome! All we ask is that you be polite and
respectful, and we love it especially when solutions are suggested along
with a problem. The Administration is trying to make sure everyone has a
pleasant chatting experience, and the decisions we make are always made
with the users' best interest in mind. The users do not vote or have an
official say in the making of rules, but I can promise you that your
feedback weighs in heavily on our decisions and we need that feedback in
order to know what you want and how you feel about things.

ALL ban lengths mentioned in the above sections are non-negotiable. Each
incident that falls under those categories are all treated the same, no
matter how simple or extravagant the incident may have been.

These rules are subject to change, with or without notice. While we will
make an attempt to notify of changes (via the forum or login page), we
cannot guarantee notification. It is your responsibility to check for
updates.

"I want to take a minute to explain how I expect members of Thorn Valley to
approach problems with another user, whether that other user is a
Subordinate, Gamma, Beta or Alpha... The goal is to try and keep the
public forums clear of the acrimony that plagued the previous two
incarnations of Thorn Valley. I want to make these suggestions:

"1. When you have a problem with some other user, first you need to send a
message to that person explaining yourself. Avoid sarcasm or other things
that would add more "heat than light". State your case plainly and
politely. If someone has done you an injustice, make it clear why you
feel that way, but do not make things more complicated by attacking back.
Resist the temptation to "tell them off". Try to resolve the problem in a
private message.

"2. If you are unable to resolve the problem by working directly with the
other person, you should escalate it to someone of higher rank. So, for
example, if you are a Subordinate and you are having problems with
another Subordinate, send a private message to a Gamma about it, or speak
with them privately.

"3. If escalating to the next level doesn't work, continue to escalate.
There's no reason why you have to go through each level, but try to if
you can. If all else fails, please do not hesitate to contact me (or
another Alpha) directly about problems with an administrator. Be aware
that I want to think highly of my team, but that doesn't mean that they
are infallible.

"4. The main goal is to try to resolve problems without turning it into a
public argument. For what it's worth, any time that I see a PUBLIC
discussion of some problem that should have been handled in PRIVATE, I
tend to be strongly biased against the public debate. So, it serves your
purpose to avoid airing "dirty laundry" in public. This means, be
discreet and private. PM the Alphas, rather than post a negative
topic.

"5. If all else fails, and you have moved up the ladder and STILL don't
have a fair resolution, then by all means you are free to take it public.
You could have done it all along, of course. But keep in mind that I am
not going to cave in to mob rule. I am the Alpha at Thorn Valley. What I say
is final. I want to keep people happy, but I am going to do what I feel
is right, regardless of any public vote.

"I believe that one of the root causes of the collapse of the previous two
incarnations of Thorn Valley had to do with arguments on public forums. I do
not want to eliminate those, but I want them to be a last resort. Thanks
for helping me reach that goal."